Dear Editor:
Enough is enough. The only reason MVHS wants the new hospital downtown is so they could reap the financial windfall of commercially developing their 64 acres at St. Luke’s.
If a new hospital would result in fantastic commercial growth in the area it’s built, has anyone wondered why New Hartford has stood by, so gleefully silent, as the downtown Utica plan has stumbled forward?
Utica is simply being used as a dumping ground for this tax-exempt elephant. Both Mayor Palmieri and First Ward Councilperson Maria McNiel know this and should be run out of town for not having enough integrity to stand up against those behind the downtown hospital scam.
The cost of maintaining the infrastructure needed for this elephant, year after year, will be coupled with the tax losses of the buildings and businesses they propose to expel and destroy, in the end, bankrupt this city.
MVHS owns 64 acres at St Luke’s. Is anyone really gullible enough to believe that their desire to build downtown is some grand philanthropic gesture towards Utica? Give me a frickin’ break!
It’s to stick us with a tax-exempt elephant while their St. Luke’s land ultimately becomes available for lucrative commercial development. Uticans need to step up the pressure on their elected officials to stop this scam immediately.
Ray Jadwick, Utica Custom T-Shirts
